Boil
by AwesomeGuitarSolo69
Summary: Following Order 66, Boil seeks solace from the events of the Clone Wars, and the death of Waxer, in searching for an old friend. Oneshot.


The order had come in an hour ago. Boil had been standing fairly close to Commander Cody when it had come through from the Supreme Chancellor, and he had heard it echoed through both the radio in his helmet and the hologram Cody was receiving through his handheld.

"Execute Order 66"

Boil hadn't questioned the Jedi being traitorous. In fact, since the battle of Umbara, he had somewhat suspected it. As he watched General Kenobi and his veractyl plummet down the sinkhole following the shot at him by the gunner of the nearby AT-TE, he couldn't help but think back to General Krell's false intel – intel that led to his best friend, Waxer ,being shot down by his own brothers.  
He had watched Waxer draw his last breath.  
What he hadn't anticipated as part of the Jedi's comeuppance for Waxer's death was searching the caves below for the body of Kenobi in order to confirm the kill. As he sloshed through the watery caverns well below even the sinkhole dwellings of the locals, the entire war came crashing down on him. Making sure he was alone, he slipped off his helmet and stared into the visor. Just what had he witnessed through the last four years of war? What had he done?  
It was the little cartoon on his helmet that dropped him out of the depression he'd just fallen into. The smiling face he thought of as the one thing he viewed as a positive to come out of this conflict; the little Twi'lek girl he and Waxer had rescued, back on Ryloth. As he stared at the drawing, carefully avoided by the tally marks denoting all the battle droids he'd destroyed, he took a long breath and looked at the water dripping into a vast underground lake from a nearby stalactite. The drops into the lake made him realise he was just one clone in an army made up of millions upon millions of exact copies of him. Really he was just a drop in the ocean. Any of his brothers could replace him.  
Hell, they were probably growing multiple men to replace him on Kamino right now.  
It was with this in mind that Boil covertly made his way out of the caves, and into the Pau'an city built on the ridges of the sinkhole above. Deciding to forget the order to find the body of Kenobi – the ocean, Boil thought, could handle that, he quickly found himself a small ship. Not well suited for frequent, long distance use, but it would get him where he needed to go. He climbed in, the ship belonging to a Pau'an who, if he hadn't been killed by the fighting had certainly been displaced by it and wouldn't need it anymore, set a course for Ryloth.  
All he wanted was to find the one who was the object of his singular good deed, and then escape the clutches of war entirely.

Of course, it wasn't going to be that easy. As the nearest Star Destroyer ordered him to return to Utapau immediately or be destroyed, Boil realised his hurry would be his undoing. In a blind rage, he shouted a few obscenities at the clone giving him his final warning over the ships' comm system, and made the jump into hyperspace.  
While he flew towards Ryloth, he realised he had bottled his whole mission, and punched the control panel of the ship a few times in anger. Fortunately, he avoided hitting any important buttons in his cathartic rage, and managed to relax a few moments later, and think about the predicament he was in. Undoubtedly, he'd be followed. The co-ordinates of his planned destination had definitely been scanned by the Star Destroyer, which meant he didn't have much time on Ryloth before the Republic came looking for him. Perhaps there wasn't much time for him left in the galaxy at all.  
Still, he was determined to make it work. He would ensure Numa was safe; that his efforts hadn't been for nothing, then he would have to face the music.  
Boil brought his ship down on a landing pad just outside the gates of the main city of Nabat. He watched as two clone troopers in shiny, new armour approached the ship, blasters raised, and brazenly left the cockpit.  
Ignoring them for the time being, he looked beyond the gates of the landing platforms, into the city beyond. It seemed that, since the end of the Seperatist occupation, life had returned to Ryloth.  
"You there! Stop! We have orders to-"  
For the second time that day, orders for Boil to stop immediately were interrupted, although, this time, not by him. The noise of an LAAT/i gunship filled the air as it charged the landing platforms. When it was just a few metres away, a squad from the 212th rappelled from it, Commander Cody the leader of the group.  
"Boil!" she shouted as, raising his blaster like the clones around him "What do you think you're doing?!"  
The deserter began to panic. He'd failed his mission; any hope of seeing Numa ever again had been dashed as clone troopers surrounded him.

In a last ditch effort for survival, Boil found himself reaching for his own weapon, a tear rolling down his cheek. Before he could even pull it from its holster, the two shinies had gunned him down.  
Cody, his blaster set to stun, shot them both, and stood over Boil's fallen body. He removed his helmet, and dipped his head in understanding, before rounding up his squad to deal with the mess they had made.


End file.
